


this was a home once

by fleeting interest (NorthOfSomewhere)



Category: The Strain (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Angst, Flash Fic, Friendship, Gen, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:07:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26406223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorthOfSomewhere/pseuds/fleeting%20interest
Summary: Eph thinks about his losses.
Relationships: Ephraim Goodweather & Vasily Fet
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	this was a home once

Eph feels incredibly lost, as if the ground has suddenly disappeared from beneath his feet. Zach is gone, lured away by the monster that looked like Kelly. There's a shifter walking around in the tunnels underneath the city with his son's face. He's seen it, he took a picture of it. A somewhat blurry picture, but the thing is looking straight into the camera. The eyes give it away. Under certain lights, camera flashes and uv lights, their eyes flash like a cat's.

Setrakian tries to convince him that the shifters don't need to kill a person to assume their shape, that Zach may still be alive, that the Master needs Zach alive to get to them. Eph doesn't listen because it doesn't matter. Can't they see that? None of this matters. Not anymore. He can feel it, in his bones, like a father can. Like a parent can, he knows Kelly would have understood, she would have felt it too. But she's gone. One of them has her face now, they have her skin his mind whispers to him.

They get the memories along with everything else. It kills Eph that one of those monsters is out there looking like his son, with Zach's memories rattling around in it's skull and eating people. He's seen first-hand what they do, how they just tear into flesh, the noises they make as they chew. The remains after they're finished aren't recognizable as humans anymore and Eph's heart breaks further and he feels sick to his stomach when he can't stop himself from imagining them doing the same to his son.

Eph takes another swig of the vodka bottle he'd found in one the cupboards. He's holding a peanut butter sandwich in his other hand. Fet had handed it to him, saying he shouldn't drink on an empty stomach and told him to be careful if he was going up to the roof. He laughs to himself, as if he cares about anything right now, least of all himself. He keeps on laughing, he can't seem to force himself to stop. Tears stream down his face.

He knows that he must look crazy. Crying and laughing while drinking and holding a peanut butter sandwich of all things. Then it starts to rain. _Of course,_ he thinks, _I_ _should have expected this._ The rain acts as a switch for his near-maniacal laughter though, he stops as soon as the first drops hit his face.

He slowly brings the sandwich up to his mouth and takes a bite, mechanically. He takes note of the soggy texture of the bread and the incredibly thick layer of peanut butter. It sticks to the roof of his mouth and the soaked bread doesn't help at all. The sandwich is terrible, but he keeps eating it until he's finished the whole thing because he doesn't know what else to do. He stands in the rain for longer than he should. He just can't bring himself to move.

_What's the point?_

Fet is the one who shakes him back to reality, makes sure he comes back down from the roof. He doesn't know how long he was standing out there, but his clothes are soaked through and he's freezing.

"Told you to be careful," Fet mutters, not unkindly. He shoves Eph in the direction of the bedrooms and tells him to change. 

When Eph wanders back out, in dry clothes, he sees Fet has put on a pot of coffee.

"Thank you," he says, quietly.

Fet nods.

They sit at the table in silence. Outside the storm is building. The thunder rumbles hungrily, lightning bringing with it flashes of the outside world, and through it all the coffee maker continues it's song, dripping out of time with the rain.


End file.
